Act 3: The Fall

The Fall

As we transition into Act 3, the tension mounts and the stakes are higher than ever. The party’s previous actions have set the stage for the unfolding drama. 
Depending on the outcome of the heist, the beginning of Act 3 will take one of three paths. Here are the possible scenarios:

Successful Heist and Getaway: The party hands over the pendant to Alarak at the Dusty Flagon. The exchange is quiet and discreet, with Alarak paying them and 
warning them to stay cautious, lay low, and not make waves.

Unsuccessful Heist, Successful Getaway: The party failed the job but managed to get away from the estate and go into hiding. Now, with Alarak nowhere to be 
found, they must figure out their next move, as it appears the heist job has fallen through.

Unsuccessful Heist and Capture: The party failed to recover the pendant. They were caught, quickly subdued, and knocked unconscious. They now find themselves 
at the mercy of their captors in a dimly lit dungeon. The air is humid and uncomfortably warm. They find themselves in a large holding cell, not alone— an old, skinny man occupies another cell, clearly having been there for some time, as indicated by his dirty appearance and smell.

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Landing in a Dungeon

Regardless of how the party ends up in the dungeon, they will end up in a large holding cell, and an unknown prisoner in another nearby cell. As the party regains consciousness, the unknown prisoner, an elderly man who, if you were to wipe away the grime and dirt and have them stand straight, would cut a rather imposing figure, but currently, they look pretty rough. This prisoner will engage the party in conversation, curious as to what they did to get such rough treatment on the way in.

If asked their name, the prisoner will tell them that he is Nur-ez, and he was an accountant for the Emir, Lord Valdar before he was caught skimming money from the treasury. His reasoning for skimming the money? It was for a noble cause, giving the money to a poor family in his neighborhood that was facing hardship after the husband injured himself and could not work. Nur-ez will also ask probing questions about who they are and what landed them in the dungeon

Note: Nur-ez is actually Lord Valdar in disguise. Given the importance of the Pendant of Dusk and the power it has, he suspects that there are much bigger players making moves, and that the party were likely selected to take the fall. He wants to discretely interrogate them to see what they know, and knowing that they likely will not co-operate with the guards, they may confide in a fellow prisoner.

After their conversation, or at least once Nur-ez is satisfied, the guards will come in and make a scene removing Nur-ez for sentencing. The guards will also off-handedly say to the party, “Don’t worry, Lord Valdar will get to you soon”, before leaving the party alone in the dungeon.

Tracking the Time

Tracking of time is tricky as there is no sunlight or windows. It is not impossible though. While the party has no way of knowing the time of day when they were brought in, there are clues that can help them track the passage of time. The easiest clue to catch is the guard shift changes in the other room, and that can be combined with making marks on the cell floor since the cell is in the middle of the room. Each shift change notes the end of an 8 hour shift. The party is also fed twice a day, so they can safely assume that one is morning, and the other is evening.

Passing the Time

There is not a lot to do, locked in a cell to pass the time, but this is a good time to let the party role-play in an open ended manner. If the party tries to escape, they will find that the iron bars of the cell are magically reinforced and that the lock mechanism for the door actually requires an actual magical key to disengage/unlock.

Note: At this point, let the party role-play as much as feels natural for the party. If things start to feel as if its dragging out, that’s when it might be time to skip and move onto the next section, “Facing the music”

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Facing the Music

Once an appropriate amount of time has passed, the party will hear the scrape of boots on stone, and the creak of a key in the door to the jail. Several guards will enter the jail area. They tell the party to cooperate or be beaten (Note that the party has no weapons/armor/etc.., and are in simple grey shifts). Once the party has all been shackled, they will be lead upstairs, out of the guard house, through the garden and into the main hall of the estate.
Note: Feel free to take artistic liberties describing the route and the estate. It really is a slice of paradise in an otherwise dry city.

Facing Lord Valdar

Once in the audience chamber (Which smells of incense and scented smoke from a hookah. There is faint music playing, very quietly, coming from a harp somewhere in the room. At the far end of the room sits a man in a large, ornate chair. As the party gets closer, have them roll D10 Wisdom checks to see if they recognize the man sitting on the chair as the same man who was in the cells with them previously.

Opening the Conversation

The party is not gagged when they are brought to see the lord, so feel free to let them role-play naturally, and look to take advantage of their conversation for Lord Valdar to interject. If they are quiet, Lord Valdar can open with a comment about his time in the prison with them, possibly even commenting on their reactions to recognizing him. He should come off as a well spoken, formal individual who is hiding a sense of humor more akin to that of a rank and file soldier.

A history Lesson… also known as exposition

He should also mention that, in his time with the party, learning and observing, he has determined that the party, for all their faults, are no more than pawns by a man known as Alarak. Alarak is a member of the Cult of Asharak and one of the people who are trying to open a portal between Iperion and Asharaks world. This portal was once opened before and Asharak nearly tore the world asunder, only stopped by the sacrifice of a divine entity, known as The Guardian. When Asharak was expelled and the portal fell, The Guardian instructed its human allies to dismantle the items powering the portal, noting that they cannot be destroyed by mere man, while they dealt with the Black Champion of Asharak, a human twisted and empowered by Asharaks dark powers. As the humans finished subduing the remaining cultists and dismantling the portal, the Black Champion thrust their vile blade through the Guardians chest, twisting as the blade was pulled back out. In that moment, the humans successfully closed the portal, severing the link between the Black Champion and Asharak, and so, the Black Champion fell, stabbing its sword into the ground near where the portal once stood, before dying and burning up, tainting the ground with Asharaks evil forever.

From here, having explained the background, Lord Valdar will explain that Alarak is an evil mage who has set about retrieving the items that can be used to form the portal, working to become Asharaks new Black Champion, and unleashing Asharak onto the world again, this time without the Guardian to defend humanity.

A chance for redemption

As this point, having brought the party up to speed, Lord Valdar will tell the party that, for all their faults, they deserve a chance at redemption. To that end, Lord Valdar will set the party on the quest to stop Alarak and the cult from succeeding at opening the portal. If the party does this, not only will they clear their names and restore their honor, but Lord Valdar will ensure that the party is handsomely rewarded for their efforts.

Once Lord Valdar has secured the parties agreement to proceed, he will have the guards unshackle the party, and will return them their gear and items. He will also introduce Hearim Kai’Enez, Master Spy of the Dammian Raiders, advising that he is to be their contact moving forward. Hearim will advise the party that he will be at the Dusty Flagon each evening, so if they have anything to report, he can be found there, in disguise. He will only interact if the passphrase is given, “The dust has really obscured the sunset today”. He will also tell them to not waste his time, only report if they actually have something important to report. Hearim will also let the party know that there is an area of suspected cult activity in the city, and that they should start their investigation there.

Note: Hearim is very unremarkable in everything that he does, from years spent in the spycraft trade. He very much gives off the sense that there are not many places he cannot infiltrate, and that he knows many ways of extracting information from individuals.

Turned Loose

At this point, the party has had their agency restored and they are free to progress as they desire. Let the party role play and determine their next steps, should they gear up and prepare first? Do they want to just start walking around the area asking questions? Maybe they want to learn more about the cult and the portal?
This is a good opportunity for the party to do other things as well, not necessarily storyline related. If a party member has a particular story plot that has been building, this may be a good spot to explore those things. Don’t feel like you need to rush the party into the investigation. After all, the party has been imprisoned for an indeterminate amount of time, they may want to just kick back and relax and enjoy some creature comforts (Music/ale/wine/mead/women/men/etc..) before focusing on the task at hand. Once they are ready, then start the investigation.